3.5. Common Problems During Installation

3.5.1. Display Problems (Missing Lines, Thick Borders)

A common problem during Linux installation (or afterwards) on laptops are missing
lines at the bottom of the text console display, so the last command lines or the login prompt
are not shown on the screen. Depending on the problem it might help:

Either using FrameBuffer, e.g. using a Kernel with framebuffer
support and a boot option like vga=791, for details see the
FrameBuffer-HOWTO.

Or disabling FrameBuffer, e.g. using a boot option like
vga=normal or another resolution
Also, you could try passing video=vga16:off
on the installer boot prompt.

As a workaround often it is possible to switch to a second console
e.g. <ALT>+<F2> , because this effect is often only related
to the first console.

Check if there are VGA and video boot options configured in
the bootloader (e.g. grub, lilo). Try
to disable them at least partly, look for options like
ywrap, etc.

Check the BIOS for display settings, often (older) Toshiba laptops
behave like this.

Issue the command resize to get the correct screen size
into the system.

If none of the above helps, you may try to run a start-up-script, which
has to run at the end of the boot process.
The script has to contain the clear command and/or
the reset.